Orioles are moving back to WBAL 1090; WFED 1500 to continue to be affliate for Nationals
With only three weeks before the first spring training games, both the Washington Nationals and Baltimore Orioles have made moves to new flagship radio stations.
The Nationals will soon announce they are moving to 106.7 FM “The Fan,” which is a great move that will give the team a sports-talk station that can keep fans interested all day long. WFED 1500 AM will still air games. The deal with WFED makes it an affiliate that will air the games when there aren’t Capitals and Wizards conflicts.
This is a great move by the Nationals. It gives them one of the most powerful AM signals in the country and a strong FM home that gives a better reach in the DC area and in Virginia. This AM-FM duo solves their coverage problems for roughly 75-100 miles in all directions.
The Nationals get a partner with a strong all-sports format that will offer the team many options for promotion and programming — and all of it can seamlessly be woven into the existing format at 106.7.
WFED has been a great partner for the Nationals and their pre- and post-game shows always were well done. Now we have a shift that will have 106.7 “The Fan” as the flagship with 1500 AM as the affiliate serving in a partnership that is good both for the fans as well as the broadcast properties.
Here is what we know right now about the talent side: Charlie Slowes, “The voice of the Nationals,” and one of Washington’s most popular radio personalities, and his talented partner, Dave Jageler, will remain in the broadcast booth. As for the pre- and post-game shows, 106.7 has a deep bench of talent that could could be called upon to handle any new duties. Holden Kushner, who presently co hosts “The Mike Wise Show,” could a prime candidate for a key role with his background as part of the team at Sirius-XM “Homeplate” before going to WJFK. Also there is Bill Rohland, who hosts “Overtime.” He could fit into the mix. WJFK likely will be adding a few members to its broadcast family.
Meanwhile, the Baltimore Orioles returned to WBAL 1090 AM as their flagship station this week. The plan is for WBAL to be the home of the Orioles through the regular season with 98 Rock — its FM sister station — handling the Ravens. Once baseball season is over, the Ravens will be simulcast on both stations.
Brett Hollander will be the new pregame host with “On Deck” and the broadcast team of Joe Angel and Fred Manfra, who are employed by the Orioles, will be back calling the action.
Examiner columnist Jim Williams is a seven-time Emmy Award-winning TV producer, director and writer. Check out his blog, Watch this!
